A date rape drug survivor blasted the Wu administration for boasting about adding hundreds of new liquor licenses to bolster Boston’s economy while failing to backstop that move with nightlife protections to ensure safe drinking for patrons.

Boston resident Ilana Katz Katz said Thursday she was roofied in late 2022 when she was 56 years old, but was refused a toxicology screen during her emergency room visit at Massachusetts General Hospital because she wasn’t raped.

“I’m grateful I wasn’t, but a victim shouldn’t have to experience the worst-case scenario to receive basic medical evidence collection,” Katz said at a Boston City Council hearing exploring ways to address drink spiking and drug-facilitated rape.

Katz said “roofies are an epidemic” in the city since 2022. She said there’s a local Facebook group with more than 19,000 members “solely dedicated to drink safety, tracking drugging and sexual assaults” at more than 100 Boston-area venues.

“I’m here today because there is a dangerous disconnect between the city’s rhetoric on safety and the reality on the ground,” Katz said. “While Mayor Wu authorized 225 liquor licenses in landmark legislation, which she boasted … ‘introduced the most liquor licenses to Boston since prohibition,’ her nightlife director Corean Reynolds … has failed back to back that growth with protection, despite her claiming safety is a ‘high priority.”

“Safety must come first,” Katz added. “Rather than showboating about liquor licenses and where you can eat late at night and get alcohol, how about showing tangible efforts to prevent this life-ruining crime?”

Wu administration officials and Boston Police testifying at the hearing said a number of steps have been taken to try to prevent drink spiking and investigate cases when they occur.

That has included distributing thousands of drink covers to bars and restaurants to give patrons the opportunity to protect their drinks when out socializing, and reviewing alcohol licenses after a drink spiking incident is reported to police at a particular establishment, according to Reynolds and Kathleen Joyce, chair of the Boston Licensing Board.

Bars and restaurants in Boston are also honoring requests to remake drinks for people who suspect drink spiking, Boston Police Capt. Det. Terry Thomas said.

Councilor Erin Murphy questioned the effectiveness of the city’s approach. She said she’s never seen anyone using the drink covers, and that they risk sending a message that the victim needs to take responsibility for their own safety when it comes to preventing their drink from being spiked.

Kimberly Mendoza Iraheta, director of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence at the Boston Police Health Commission, appeared to shift blame away from the city. She cited research that she said shows most date rape victims know the perpetrator and that drink spiking and related assaults most frequently occur in private settings rather than at public venues.

Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, who sponsored the day’s hearing order, said concerns over drink spiking are particularly relevant heading into the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, “one of the busiest weekends for nightlife” in Boston.

“We know Boston is safe, but we also know that drink spiking has been a concern in the city over the last several years,” Coletta Zapata said. “Public safety means making sure people can enjoy (themselves) without worrying that their drink could be tampered with.”

Thomas said there have been 266 drink spiking incidents reported over the past three years, including 25 drug-facilitated rapes.

So far, in 2026, there have been seven reported drink spiking incidents. There were 78 reported incidents in 2025, and 73 and in 2024. Of those incidents, one drug-facilitated rape has been reported so far this year, seven were reported in 2025 and 10 were reported in 2024, Thomas said.

Coletta Zapata added that 116 and 107 drink spiking incidents were reported in 2022 and 2023, respectively. She said that while the number of reported incidents has gone down each of the past few years, “experts believe that many cases go unreported.”

“One of the biggest challenges is that substances commonly used in drink spiking like Rohypnol, now commonly referred to as roofies as well as GHB or ketamine, metabolize quickly,” Coletta Zapata said. “That means by the time someone realizes something is wrong and seeks help, it can be difficult to collect evidence or confirm what happened.”

Through tears, a woman who identified herself only as Jessica shared how the disorientating effects of a date rape drug prevented her from accepting help from a stranger who noticed she may be in trouble moments before her assault three years ago, when she was drugged and raped by someone she met through a dating app.